Those Left Behind
by SafeKept
Summary: Sora thinks that, after saving numerous worlds and defeating too many monsters to count, he should just be given a break. Someone disagrees, and thinks that Sora, his friends, and those born around them are too much fun to leave doing nothing. Post-KH2.
1. Chapter 1 Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts

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><p>Sora could feel himself drifting.<p>

His eyes flickered from open to closed to open again as he lay on the beach with his back rested against a paopu tree. The sun was warm, and there was nobody around to disturb his peace. The sound of the waves reaches him gently, soothingly. He smiled, digging his elbows deeper in the dry sand. Listening only to the sound of the sea, he leant his head back, shifting slightly as his necklace pinched tightly at his neck.

The waves grew fainter, fading into near silence as sleep overtook them. Sora's head fell to one side.

Kairi smiled, almost laughing at Sora's position. He never noticed when she would stand here, watching him as he lay on the beach. She'd waited ages before, standing and watching for a while before greeting him for their daily meetings on the beach. She would not wake him. This was too funny and lovely for her to. Instead, she quietly laid herself next to him, careful not to disturb his position. Sitting down, she could understand his falling sleep; it was wonderfully comfortable down here. Leaning her head beside his against the tree, she shut her eyes. Sora's head fell a little in his slumber, brushing at her forehead. Yes, definitely wonderful, she thought. She sighed happily.

She could hear Sora breathing lightly and shuffled slightly closer to him, leaning her head back against the tree.

Riku stood in front of the two of them, and neither noticed him. The eldest boy looked down at them both as they slept. Kairi wore a small smile, a satisfied expression clear on her face even asleep. Her hair spread around her, running over Sora's shoulder and flowing across the paopu tree's trunk. Her skin glowed softly in the sunlight, perfectly clear. Sora, next to her, didn't look as quite pleasant, Riku thought, as his mouth hung slightly open and his head bowed downwards. Riku smiled, but a cool rush poured through him. He shook his head, and laughed properly, though quietly. He knew who had lay there first without even asking. Home then, he told himself, deciding not to wake the two of them.

He didn't move, instead standing their and watching his two best friends sleeping. The ice was still their, streaming under his skin. Kairi pulled herself closer to Sora. He sat down.

His eyes flickered between the two of them as he dug is hands into the sand. He pulled an arm up and rested his elbow on his knee and his head on his palm. Biting his lip, Riku shut his eyes tightly. Sora and Kairi still floated in front of him, only now they were surrounded by darkness. Sora edged closer to Kairi, whose soft, sleepy smile grew into a bright toothy grin. The smile found its way onto Sora's face, as they both rested against each other, arm in arm as they both beamed. Riku struggled to open his eyes, but they refused, determinedly remaining firmly closed. His head sat on his own shoulder, and the world faded, Sora and Kairi still sleeping before him.

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><p>Naminé looked around her. A dream of Kairi's this would be, she supposed. She was surrounded by a clear white, a plane that extended in all directions around her with no end she could see. It was completely empty, with no decorations or obstacles blocking her view forward. Just a huge field of never-ending white. This wasn't at all like Kairi's usual dreams, she thought. They were usually bright and confusing and loud and messy. This was just… blank.<p>

-For the first few moments. A figure faded into few, collapsed on the ground in an awkward heap. As it appeared, Naminé wondered how she had not noticed it before now. It had always been there, of course, she knew that somehow. She simply had not noticed it. The shape came into focus, and yes, Naminé decided, it was definitely human. Or at least human shaped. A girl, Naminé guessed, about Kairi's age judging by the size.

She turned away as another creature appeared to her side, human again, though this time it appeared rather more masculine.

It, too, had, of course, always been there. Just… unnoticed.

Here, Naminé noticed that she was herself sprawled across the floor, limbs bent outwards in all awkward and painful directions. She pushed herself up onto her elbows, and gazed down at herself. She was wearing her usual white dress, though it looked cleaner and newer than she could ever remember it being. The magic of dreams, she thought to herself.

Somebody else came then, lying against her back. They were warm beside her, their bodies touching gently, and she turned her head to see them. She smiled as she found Sora beside her.  
>Yes, Kairi's dreams. She chuckled gently.<p>

She watched him for a while, forgetting the others around her. She doubted that they were still there at all; dreams were not often heavy in their continuity. She pushed a strand of Sora's tussled hair out of his face. Because his hair was quite messy, she thought, laying in almost matted strands over his face rather than up in spikes. It didn't usually look like this at all, especially in Kairi's dreams.

He stirred.

"Sora?" She whispered down to him.

His eyes quivered open.

For Kairi's dream, Naminé thought, it was oddly lacking in the red-haired girl. She pulled at a lock of her own hair, checking the colour. Blond. She was definitely herself here. No Kairi anywhere. She shook the thought away, it didn't matter. She too much enjoyed being with Sora herself for a rare once. And this wasn't real.

"Hey, sleepy," she said softly, pushing his arm tenderly.

"Kairi?" Sora mumbled. "Kairi, I-I'm sleeping, don't make me get up, don't wanna-" He pulled his arm away from her.

"It's Naminé," she said, her amusement audible. "Kairi's dreaming about you."

"Okay," Sora said sleepily, nudging the floor with his forehead. "That's nice. I'm gonna… I'm gonna dream about her, too."

His head fell back and his eyes snapped shut. Naminé's felt her insides twist sadly. "Sora, she's already dreaming." She giggled slightly, assuring herself that this was only a dream Sora of Kairi's. "You can't dream in someone else's dream."

Sora laughed lightly for a few moments. Naminé continued to smile to herself.

He stopped his tired giggles very suddenly, apparently waking up.

"Naminé, am I dreaming?" he asked, confusion strong in his voice.

Naminé's smile faded. "No, it's Kairi," she said sadly. "She's imagining all of this." She frowned. "At least I think so." She paused thoughtfully. "Maybe it's me dreaming… I've never done since I…"

Sora opened his eyes slowly. "Maybe," he said as Naminé trailed off. "But, it's like…I know what's happening. I can think and stuff. I don't think you're imagining me."

"No," Naminé said slowly, drawing out the word, "It's Kairi, I'm sure. You just think you're real." She smiled over him, forcing it only a little.

Sora watched her for a moment before responding with a genuine grin. "Naminé, I-"

Footsteps clicked in the background, interrupting their conversation.

"Sora?" Riku's voice reached them. They both turned to face him. He appeared panicked, his mouth slightly open as his eyes flicked between the two of them.

"Riku! Are you in the dream, too?" Sora smiled at him goofily, forgetting the doubt he had moments ago.

Riku frowned back. "Sora…" he said quietly "I don't think-"

Another voice called over, a girl's. Kairi, Naminé thought. The blond pulled away from Sora, finding she suddenly felt uneasy. "Sora? Riku? Heh, am I dreaming?" Kairi giggled, swerving slightly to one side as though drunk. Sora raised himself up on his arms, hopping to balance on his toes in a low crouch.

"Hey, Kairi!" He grinned at her. "This is great, everyone's here!"

Naminé glanced at Riku. "Sora, I don't think this is a dream. It- it feels real."

"Of course it does! Dreams always feel real. I remember falling asleep, too." He smiled warmly at her, placing a hand gently on her arm; she didn't return it.

"Sora," Riku said, urgently, Naminé thought. "I think Naminé's right. Something's wrong."

Sora's face fell. "But-"

Riku shut his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath "I can pinch you, if you'd like?" he said, seeming to almost smile and only half holding his hand out in offering.

Sora nodded frantically. "Yeah!" he said, reaching his arm towards Riku. The older boy pulled firmly at the skin on his hand.

Sora hurriedly retracted his arm. "Ow," he yelped.

"You might be imagining it," Riku said slowly. He turned to Naminé. "Do you know what's happening?" he asked.

Naminé shook her head. She didn't have any idea. But this didn't feel like a dream anymore, whatever was happening.

Kairi moved closer to Riku. "I really don't like this," she said shakily. "Are you all dreaming? I mean, am I? What?"

Riku shook his head at her steadily. "Kairi, calm down," he said firmly. "I- I don't know what's going on either. But panicking won't help any of us."

Kairi nodded quickly so that her hair bounced around her shoulders. Her breathing was still rapid in anxiousness.

Something behind Naminé let out a low groan. She spun around, remembering the two bodies that had been here before.

Only one lay there now. It was dressed in a black cloak and had light blond hair laying in tangles.

"Roxas!" Naminé cried, smiling as she tugged at his arm. Roxas fell sideways onto his back and coughed. "Oh, are you okay?"

Roxas mumbled something indistinct. Naminé whimpered softly.

"R-Roxas?" Sora clambered over to see him. "Is that-?"

"Both of you, leave him." Riku's voice was firm. "None of us know what's going on here, and we… we have to find out what's going on before we do anything."

Sora was leant next to him on his knees. He reached out to lay a hand on Roxas's arm. Naminé gave him a faint smile.

"Riku, do you have any idea what's happening?" Kairi's voice was heavy with panic, cracking towards the end.

"I don't know," Riku said, looking directly at Kairi. He leant down to feel the floor, running a hand across it slowly. He knocked it, and it replied with silence. Standing up again, glanced around him and upwards. Sora and Naminé followed his gaze upwards only to see white. Kairi simply stared at him. Roxas's head twitched.

They all stayed in complete since save for Roxas's occasional small mumbles.

Kairi finally spoke. "We should look around. I mean, this place has to end somewhere, right? It can't just go on forever."

It took a lengthy few moments for anybody to answer her.

"Kairi's right," Sora said. Kairi smiled at his support. "We should try to find something." Sora stood up properly for the first time since they had ended up here, wherever it was. He paused for a moment, apparently thinking. He swung his hand into the air, taking a breath. Nothing happened. "Wha-?" he said, looking at his empty hand. He repeated the action, shutting his eyes and scrunching his face. "R-Riku. I don't think I can summon my Keyblade."

"Well," Riku said slowly, seeming to make an effort to keep his expression clear. "Let's all go together. That way, if there's anything there, we'll stand a chance against it."

Naminé was not happy with this idea. "But what about Roxas?" she asked, glancing around at the semiconscious boy who lay on the clear floor.

Riku tapped his fingers lightly against his leg, following Naminé's eyes to the ground. He nodded, keeping that same forcefully blank expression. "We- We won't go until he wakes up properly. He'll be able to come with us."

"How long will that take?" Kari asked with faint annoyance.

Roxas made another little moan. "I don't know," Riku answered.

Kairi had sat down, cross-legged on the floor. She sighed. "So what do we do until then?" she said, staring out into the pure white horizon.

Riku lowered himself to the floor wearily. He sighed as he spoke. "We wait."

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><p>Author's Note: So yeah. Did that even make any sense? Oh well, I'll try to make it make sense.<p>

I would love to get some reviews, just to know if anyone is interested in this continuing. Or if you have some criticism. Either way is great, or just anything else. I just love reviews, and I love people who leave them, too.

Anyway, thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 1  Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts

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><p>Waiting was not so easy.<p>

They had sat in empty silence for a long time, shooting occasional uncomfortable glances at each other, and spending the rest of their time watching the floor. All of them but Naminé fidgeted continuously, as though the perfectly smooth floor were disturbing them in some way. Every once in a while Kairi would open her mouth to speak, but immediately think better of it and simply sigh instead.

Roxas gurgled. Kairi looked over at him, her mouth turned heavily downwards and eyebrows pushed together. Eyes flickering in her direction, Naminé gave the red-haired girl a short, faint smile. The witch watched as Kairi's eyes began to dart around the place more and more and her breathing lost the metronome-steady pace she had been making efforts to keep. Her fingers attempted to claw the floor but they left no mark on the solid surface, and Kairi bit down hard on her bottom lip. Small tears started to grow in her eyes as she dug her teeth in.

Naminé only watched, entirely unsure what she could say to her.

Roxas, laying just a short distance from their group, appeared peaceful. He curled around himself with his head tucked tightly under his own arm like a sleeping animal.

After a time, Riku started to drum his fingers stiffly against the floor, causing minute vibrations to spread around and sink into the ground. It made no clear sound. Sora sat cross-legged on the floor, his back uncharacteristically straight. He frowned deeply at the older boy's fingers, whilst wringing his own hands and clicking their joints. His hair still hung untidily around his head, as though he had just woken from a long, uneasy sleep.

The waiting for one of them to dare speaking was thick and painful.

Only Roxas made any noise, with his regular bursts of light groans and faint murmurs that made Kairi jump and give him unintentional dirty looks.

Naminé pulled at the hem of her dress, beginning to loosen a thread.

Riku dug his fingers into the skin of his arm.

Sora gazed upwards into nothing.

Kairi twitched.

They waited. Nobody said a word.

A high pitched giggle shot towards them.

Naminé hurriedly pushed herself upwards and clambered over to the boy who lay stretched out across the floor from them. Roxas's head rested awkwardly to one side, sticking out at a strange angle. His mouth hung loosely open and his jaw fell just in front of his front lip. An arm was thrust outwards behind his back and his shoulder stuck out through his cloak. His eyes were open wide.

Naminé felt her insides clench tightly. She fought the desire to back away from him, and shakily guided a hand to hover above his arm. Roxas's bottom lip quivered slightly and Naminé shakily pulled her hand away.

"Naminé," Riku began, standing up and taking a slow step towards her. The girl shook her head quickly.

Warily, she leant closer to Roxas. He didn't move, but seemed to watch her with eerie vacancy; his eyes were glazed over and his mouth lay open still. He shuddered, and Naminé found herself relieved at the movement.

"Roxas," she whispered softly, watching him intently.

"What's wrong with him?" Sora asked quietly, stretching forward on his knees.

Roxas continued to look up at her blankly, blinking quickly. Naminé's fingers dug under the hem of her dress.

Her hair fell across her face as she leant over Roxas. "I don't know," she said, leaning backwards to kneel. "Sora, I don't have any idea."

Her breathing was unsteady as she stood up and took a long step backwards.

Riku looked up at her as he sat on the floor. He nodded.

"What do we do?" Naminé asked nobody in particular. No-one answered. "What if he doesn't… what…" She trailed off. She did not, she thought, have even the vaguest idea of what was happening at all.

The edges of Roxas's mouth twitched suddenly, then slackening again, and his eyes fell half-shut.

Naminé couldn't help herself from running over to him again, bending down and whispering his name.

His eyes fluttered gradually open and flickered up to the girl's face. He looked at her with more awareness now, eyes widening slightly as he gazed at her sleepily.

She smiled. "Roxas," she repeated, placing a hand gently on his arm. He squirmed a little at her touch. "How are you feeling?"

"Naminé…" Riku warned, slowly getting up from the floor. Sora pushed himself up more hurriedly, rushing in their direction. He stopped a distance from Naminé, apparently having to make a great effort to not go any further. Kairi stayed where she was, but watched them warily, looking fearful.

Roxas's mouth moved to answer her, but he made no sound but a slight whimper. Riku had walked over to stand next to her. He looked downwards at Roxas, whose eyes travelled upwards.

The cloaked boy lay still for a few moments, before finally managing to get out "Riku?" his voice cracked squeakily. He fell onto his back.

"Shh…" Naminé whispered to him gently. "You don't have to talk."

"Yeah," a voice said too loudly. Naminé turned around rapidly; Sora was standing just behind her. "You've been out a while."

"Wh-what's going on?" he mumbled, turning his head to rest it on its side. He shut his eyes.

Naminé glanced at Riku. He looked back at her and nodded, as if to say 'I'll let you speak.'

She turned back to Roxas. "We… We aren't really sure right now. We're trying to find out still, b-but we had to wait until you were okay before we could search. Sora's right, you've been unconscious since we… well, I don't know. That's what we're going to try and find out."

Roxas opened his eyes into a thin line of white. "Well," he said, his voice still shaky but far stronger than it had been. "You can go looking now." He placed the palms of his hands flat on the floor and tried to push himself up. His arms quivered and his body did not move at all. "Ugh," he said loudly, and then let out a weak cry as he let himself fall onto his stomach.

"No, Roxas, stay there," Naminé said urgently. "You need to rest…"

He rolled onto his back again, steadier this time. "Naminé, I'm fine." He laughed lightly and it broke into a cough. Eventually, he managed to speak again. "Just… give me a minute, alright?" Naminé nodded and he smiled brightly at her, baring his teeth.

Kairi sighed behind them, and Riku gave her a quick, concerned glance. She flashed a quick smile at him. He turned back to Roxas.

Sora bent down onto his knees beside Roxas and close next to Naminé. He looked over the boy on the floor. He lifted his arm over his leg, leaving it to hover for a few moments. Moving his mouth as Roxas had done before, he clenched his hand into a fist and let it drop back to the ground. He breathed inwards slowly, and turned to Naminé to give her a quick smile.

"Is there nothing we can do to, you know, help him get better quickly?" he asked.

Roxas laughed again, leaning his head back to see Sora. "I _said_. I'll be fine. Just, mmm, just give me a minute."

He lay there, unmoving for a few moments, before shakily pushing himself up. Sitting with his legs pushed out in front of him, he looked slightly dazed as he turned to them. He chuckled.

"Do you need help?" Naminé asked, crouching by him. He nodded, and Naminé looked to Sora. "Help me," she said.

Sora blinked at her, "Huh?" he said. Then he nodded. "Oh. Yeah."

He bent down at Roxas's other side and they each scooped a hand under both of his arms. They dragged him upwards, until he leant on his knees, hovering just above the floor. With only little help, he pushed himself the rest of the way.

"There!" Sora said as Roxas stood next to him. He grinned at him. "Heh," he said, suddenly uneasy, placing a hand at the back of his head.

Kairi sighed heavily behind them all. "Finally," she said, her annoyance apparent. But she smiled then, cheerfully. "We can finally do something, I mean. We _have_ been sitting around a while."

"Exactly what else should we have done?" Riku asked, returning her irritation.

"Nothing," Kairi said, shrugging. "I was only…"

"Let's go then!" Roxas said, suddenly loud, interrupting them.

"Yeah, let's," Sora echoed, looking around at each of them.

They stood together, looking around into the white expanse in silence. None of them moved except for Sora and Kairi both shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"Uh," Sora said, laughing a little as he glanced around each of them.

"So then," Kairi said, with a small smile. "Where do we go into the Great White Nothing?"

Riku shot her a brief look, and then turned to face the opposite direction. "This way," he said firmly and started walking slowly away.

"Okay then," Kairi said, walking swiftly to catch up with him until she was standing closely at his side. She grinned at him joylessly. He frowned at her, then turned his eyes away again and looked only straight ahead.

Sora ran forward to catch up with them. "Hey!" he shouted to them. "Don't just wander off together!" He smiled kindly back at Naminé and Roxas. "Come on, both of you. They're not going off without us," he said, appearing only half-serious with a small smile pulling at his mouth.

They followed, Naminé walking faster towards them and Roxas keeping his pace. The rest of the group waited for him to catch up. He eventually reached them.

"You, um, couldn't go any faster at all, could you?" Kairi said to him as they all started walking again and Roxas kept at his leisurely strolling. "Just, uh, you know, lost in the middle of a white nowhere and…"

He looked her up and down. Blinking slowly, he gave her a single short nod. She frowned slightly, and Roxas flashed a quick, toothy smile at her. He speeded up nonetheless.

And they walked, in silence mostly. Occasionally one of them would try to start conversation, a quick word that nobody would answer. Roxas continued to trail behind them at points, suddenly walking far slower than his usual speed and looking around as though he were taking in the nonexistent scenery. Kairi would roll her eyes. Naminé would smile softly. Riku would just stare forward with determination.

Naminé had no idea of the time they had spent here, she realised as they went. She didn't ask, doubting that any of them would know. But she found that she was completely unable to make even a guess.

Riku, leading slightly ahead of the rest of their group, gradually slowed down to a halt. Naminé saw Kairi frown deeply and roll her eyes. Roxas looked around at each of them in faint surprise but wore a faint smile. Riku sighed, and turned to them all. He stood in silence for a few moments, eyes flicking briefly to each of them.

It was Sora who eventually spoke. "We're not really getting anywhere, are we?"

Riku grimaced and shook his head. "I…There's really nothing out here," he murmured, sounding as though he realised this only as he spoke.

Kairi squeaked, her frown dissolving into a look of panic. "No, Riku you can't say-" She cut of, taking a couple of long, heavy breaths. Naminé walked over to her, placing a hand gently on her arm as she calmed down. Kairi smiled quickly then jerked away. "Well then," she said, her voice clear but still a little shaky. "What do we do now?"

Answers of silence were becoming unusually regular, Naminé thought.

Kairi's breathing began to speed up again, and she placed a hand on her stomach to try and relax it. Riku stretched an arm around himself, digging his fingers hard into the flesh. Naminé stood perfectly still, watching each of them. Sora turned gazes to each of them, wide eyed and looking like he desperately wanted to tell them all that it would be okay but could not bring himself to.

Naminé turned around to see Roxas. He had spoken in a long while, and she had only seen him walking leisurely behind them with that vague smile on his face.

She saw him. He had sat, cross-legged on the pure-white floor. He picked almost at his cloak, pulling at the hem with two fingers. He seemed to struggle to keep himself from smiling, contorting his mouth strangely and sucking his lips in.

"Roxa-" she started, confused, but was cut off by a sudden, sharp giggle.

Roxas quickly put his hand over his mouth, but his head still spent a while shaking with suppressed laughter. He stopped himself hurriedly though however, though he still panted slightly.

His head turned upwards slowly to look Naminé straight in the eye. He quickly left her, though, and turned to each of the others in quick succession.

"Well then," he said, the concern in his voice too thick to be genuine. Naminé felt herself go cold, and doubted she would be able to move even if she tried. His eyes were opened wide. "_Whatever_ are we supposed to do?"

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><p>Author's Note: Um, yeah. So. I'm still counting this as part of the first chapter, as I will the next part. They're all introductory chapters. But I don't like having one chapter that will end up being about 6000 words, so I'm splitting them up. But this is still kind of chapter 1, okay?<p>

Yeah, I didn't really enjoy writing this chapter. It was kind of slow. I think that might show quite a bit. The next one will hopefully be better, so yeah.

Thanks for reading it anyway, even if it wasn't very good. I would really love it if you reviewed on your way out, too. I love getting reviews, like a lot, and I'm ridiculously thankful to the people who leave them. So go on, and review! Thanks.


	3. Chapter 1 Part 3

Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Kingdom Hearts.

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><p>Roxas burst into high pitched laughter, tilting his head forward so his hair fell messily over his face.<p>

"_Well_," he said, scanning across the rest of the group. "What _will_ we do? I mean, standing around giving each other awkward glances is fun and all, but I think it could be getting a teensy bit dull. D'you think?" he asked, with what sounded like honest curiosity.

Riku frowned at him deeply, his expression wary and close to fearful. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Roxas looked back at him in confusion. "I mean we need to do something that might be, um, _effective_," he said slowly.

"Like what? Why don't you tell us what we should do if you think our methods are so _ineffective_?" Riku said, his annoyance seeming to grow, but he still eyed Roxas uneasily.

"Well, maybe we _should_ try something else," Kairi said quietly in the behind them, arms wrapped around herself. "Or maybe we should sleep, I'm getting kinda ti-"

Roxas chuckled again softly. "Are you feeling okay?" Sora said, looking over him.

"I am fine, Sora. Thank you," Roxas said, smiling at Sora with oddly cold kindness.

Naminé watched them silently. "Ro-Roxas," she began quietly. "What- What's wrong with you?"

He turned around to her, a pitying look on his face. "Oh," he whimpered, before smiling softly. "Naminé, I forgot you were there. You're…well, _nice_, apparently. You do seem it. Especially compared to some people. But, miserable as his conversation is, I'm talking to Riku just now, so…shush." He held up a finger, indicating her to silence. Naminé was not sure quite what she should do here, not at all.

Sora took a warning step closer to Roxas. "What's up with you? Don't talk to her like that!"

Roxas spluttered, before breaking into another bout of laughter. "Oh!" he said, grinning and pretending to be threatened. "Well then, don't you worry your head! I won't be rude to our lovely Nami any more." He looked around at Naminé, smiling at her coolly; she felt herself go a little cold and involuntarily clenched her fists. "I am sorry, my dear," he told her. He gave her another terribly sweet smile.

"Now, Riku! Let's continue. I think you were asking for my ideas on what we should do. Well, I have good news for you." He beamed, and Riku stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue. Roxas's grin fell a little at Riku's silence. "Don't you…wanna hear my good news?" He sounded disappointed as he swayed bouncily from side to side whilst Riku glared. The older boy seemed to be thinking, eyes flickering rapidly between Roxas and the floor. Roxas sighed, and his voiced was tinged with impatience as he said, "I'm here to tell you what to do. I know where this is leading and why you are here. And this-" He paused, brushing his hands over his own body, "-Is how I make sure you lot know what you need to do."

Riku moved closer to Roxas threateningly. "So _you're_ the reason we're here? You trapped us."

Roxas sucked air slowly through his teeth, making a light hissing noise. "Well, no. It wasn't me who _brought_ you here. I'm just around to tell you what to do one you _get_ here."

"So…" Sora said slowly, drawing the word out. He jumped a little and his tone became more direct and urgent. "Where's Roxas? He wouldn't have done that, I know it. So what have you done with him?"

The blonde boy hissed air harshly through his teeth. "I haven't _done_ anything with him. He just isn't here. He could be, if we let him, but we haven't, so he isn't."

Sora blinked, his confusion clear on his face. "What…" he started, but then swiftly shook his head as though trying to get his confusion off. He scrunched his face. "So what are _we_ doing here then?" Sora asked, standing close now to Riku. "What d'you wanna do with us?"

Roxas seemed to struggle not to grin again. "I don't want anything with you. I am your humble guide, here only to direct you to where you need to go," he said, running a hand smoothly across the air in front of him.

Riku sighed heavily. "So what are we supposed to do then?" he asked flatly.

Roxas smiled happily. "I don't know yet! Still waiting. Glad we're listening now though."

"I don't exactly have a choice, do I?"

Roxas frowned, pushing his lips out just a little. "Of course you do," he said, twirling a finger in small circle in front of is face. "I am perfectly happy to watch you wander aimlessly around a great load of nothing with not a single clue of where to go for as ever long as you all wish too."

"Tell us then!" Riku almost hissed.

Roxas let out a huge sigh, stretching out so the entire top of his body lurched forward. "I just _told _you. I don't know yet." He looked around to Kairi, who hadn't said a word and had spent the whole time gazing fixedly at the pure white floor. "That means more waiting! Fun!" He clasped his hands together; Kairi didn't look up.

"Uh," Sora said, a hand raising to the back of his head. "I don't get it. Who _are_ you?"

"Ugh, God, how many times am I going to be forced to say this? I. Am. Here. To. Guide. You. Tell you what to do and where to go and what your new goal is."

"That doesn't make any sense," Riku said, his teeth clamped tightly together.

"Doesn't matter," Roxas said lightly, gazing distractedly upwards into nothing. "You're still gonna end up doing what I tell you."

"What if we refuse?"

"What if you refuse?" Roxas echoed, mimicking Riku's tone. "Honestly, do I have to repeat everything? Feel free, you just won't get anywhere. I'm not going _hurt_ you, you know? I'm not leading you all to your slow, agonising death. You listen, you follow my instructions, and then, you get to go. Is that simple enough for you?"

"How do we know we can trust you?" Sora asked. "You could be planning to do something, just 'cos you say you're not…"

"Oh, Sora. You trust the girl who wiped your memories to make you think she was your girlfriend. You trust the boy who's almost killed on more than one occasion. You trust Kairi, who, well, actually hasn't done anything much at all. She just lies around unconscious a bit." Kairi still said nothing. "I mean, I haven't done much at all, save for a few mean words pointed your way. Aside from the possession, and that's hurting no-one. So?" He smiled, his head falling steadily to one side.

Naminé wanted desperately to say something, but her mouth was too dry and her throat clenched too tightly and her head was too dizzily confused for her to think of a word to say. Attempting to speak, she tried to form a simple vowel sound in her mouth, but she struggled now even to make her lips part. Pinching her eyes tightly shut, she pulled her arms tightly around her knees.

"How do you know that?" Riku asked ferociously.

Roxas simply shrugged, wearing a small smirk.

Riku sighed heavily; Roxas folded his arms, tilting forward while he waited for somebody to answer.

After a long time spent staring out Roxas and letting in and out quick, shallow breaths, Riku turned to each of the group. Taking a long outward breath, he said. "Fine. Everyone, we sit and wait until he decides to give us an idea where to go."

"_What_?" Sora began to whine, but Riku quickly shook his head.

"We'll have to," he said, though he did not sound at all happy about it. "There's nothing else I can think to do. Unless you have something?"

"No. Sorry," Sora answered.

Riku smiled at him faintly. "Then I guess we have more waiting to do." He turned to Roxas. "But you're telling us about all this well we do."

Roxas's eyes rested on Riku. "No, I'm not," he eventually said simply.

"What?" Riku replied, sounding a little more than annoyed.

"I'm not just telling you things. That's no fun at all." He paused. "Also, I'll get in trouble."

"I'm getting sick of you," Riku told him.

"Oh well. You're stuck with me for now. As are all of you, actually. How about you let them speak?"

Riku glared.

Roxas chuckled.

"Stop that."

Roxas laughed some more, and Riku sunk to the floor.

Kairi sat down next, quickly followed by Sora and Naminé.

"There we go," Roxas said cheerfully, resting cross-legged in front of them. He rubbed his hands together like an excited child, another huge smile plastered brightly across his face. Naminé found herself already growing tired of his near permanent grin.

"Uh…" Sora started slowly. "When are gonna, you know, do something?"

"Patience," Roxas said, casually brushing a strand of hair from his face.

"How?" Kairi asked in a soft voice.

Roxas turned to her, surprise clear on his face. "I'm sorry?"

Kairi seemed to fight with herself over remaining in her silence or explaining herself. Appearing to struggle with talking, she started, "Well, how are we meant to just sit here?"

Roxas looked slightly taken aback, though his expression didn't lose its constant display of amusement. "What? Well, we just kinda… sit. It's not so exciting, but it won't hurt you."

Kairi's eyes flashed, and as she let out a short breath she rapidly lost her apparent nervousness. "We have been dumped in some… white…place, not told anything about what's going on, and then just told to sit here and wait to given some kind of thing to do! How are we supposed to have _patience_?"

The corners of Roxas's mouth twitched, but he forced them downwards. "I'm sorry, honestly, but there's really nothing that I can do." He kept his tone gentle and consoling but his it cracked a little on the last word.

Kairi quieted again but she continued to glare.

Roxas's grin returned.

Naminé felt annoyance flare up in her again.

"Now," said Roxas importantly, straightening his back. "Everyone settled down?"

Nobody replied. Riku looked ready to hit somebody. Roxas noticed, and shot him a calm smile.

"Does anybody want to play cards? I have some," Roxas offered, glancing around each of them. He sighed lightly. "I … don't actually know any card games. At all. Anyone care to te- No? Oh."

He leant back and loosely folded his arms.

"Oh well then," he said. "More sitting in silence. That's good, I guess. Waiting. Yippee."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Oh, I'm not happy with this chapter. Not at all. My writing is sort of...really bad. Quite horrible, actually. I don't think I should put this up here at all. But hey, I am. And there's not a thing that you can do about.<p>

Still, even if I'm not particularly happy with it, the introduction is over. Now I can actually start on the main, plotty bits. So yay for that, I guess.

Thanks for reading, anyway, and I would just love it if you reviewed. I mean, you don't _have_ to, I won't _make_ you, but...


	4. Waking

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me.

* * *

><p>Kairi lay, stretched out on her back with her eyes forced shut. Sleep, they had been instructed. Well, she wished she could, wished that she could stop all this head spinning nonsense for an hour or so. She would have loved to cut off the white that seemed to stream through her eyelids and into her vision for a while. Of course, she couldn't. She opened her eyes. The brightness of the world around her forced them shut again, and a light whimper escaped her.<p>

Was anybody else asleep, she wondered, as she steadily pulled her eyes open again? She couldn't believe anybody could rest among this confusion. It would be impossible, knowing Roxas, _that _Roxas, was just sitting there, likely tapping his fingers against his knee as he had for the last hour. It was proving so for her, certainly, her insides a twisting mess and fingers shakily clenching themselves in and out in near constant movement. As she thought of him, she couldn't help her eyes opening again and forcing themselves in Roxas's direction.

He still sat upright with his head resting on a hand. He swayed lightly, his eyes held shut. Feeling her insides chill, Kairi turned her glance involuntarily to the floor. Her hands pulled tightly into fists.

What _was_ this? Some part of her mind, a sane part she thought for the moment, insisted that she must be dreaming. Because this couldn't be happening, they obviously could not have been dumped in some place that didn't make any sense with some person, creature, who hadn't even really existed back when he was alive, much less now. How could you sit around having friendly and not so friendly chats and sleep and panic in places that aren't even real? It, quite simply, didn't make any sense-

Kairi quickly told this apparently sane part of her brain to keep quiet, because what in her life did make sense anymore?

But it wasn't just the ridiculousness of it all. There was more to this place than its unbelievable existence. It shouldn't have been there, but it was something more than that which bothered Kairi.

It scared her, she was happy to admit to herself. Beyond that, in fact. It terrified her, fear tearing through her in whatever moment she remembered where she was.

She couldn't say it, the thought tangling her words and staggering her speech – not to mention that the idea seemed ridiculous to her – but she felt as though something were hiding. Or – waiting. Like whatever this thing that called itself Roxas was waiting to tell them to do was preparing itself for them.

Which, after all that she'd heard today, didn't seem like such a silly idea at all.

Something, icy and uncomfortable, seemed to run over her skin, and she shivered. She pulled her arms firmly around herself and her insides tied themselves together even more tightly. Her breathing lost itself again, roughly tearing at her throat.

She forced herself up, tangling her limbs as she tried to get over to Sora. He rested not far from her, lying on his back along the clear floor.

She fell on her knees beside him. His eyes were shut.

"_Sora!_" she almost hissed, clear but quiet.

As it turned out, Kairi realised then, you_ could_ fall asleep in this mess of a day. Sora gurgled sleepily, his mouth making miniscule movements as his eyes quivered without fully opening.

She shook his arm violently, causing him to tiredly shake her away. She groaned and repeated his name, this time in a full cat-like snarl.

That time Sora jolted awake and opened his eyes completely. "Kairi!" he half yelped in surprise. He lifted his head slightly above the floor, then slid his elbows along so that he sat semi-upright. Looking around himself so slowly that it seemed it took a great effort for him to move, he eventually looked over Kairi in a sleepy daze. Losing his energy again, he fell backwards.

"How can you sleep when this is going on?" Kairi asked accusingly, leaning over him and holding her face close to his.

"Huh?" Sora mumbled. Kairi simply looked at him with wide eyes. "I don't… Kairi, I'm tired. Let…let me sleep." He determinedly forced his eyes firmly shut, and Kairi sighed heavily.

"_Sora!_" she tried viciously, attempting to wake him again, but he was gone. She slumped forward in faint disbelief.

Kairi's breathing had steadied itself somewhat, and she slid back to where she had previously lain. She pulled her knees closely into her chest and rested her head on their tops before finding her eyes turning back to Roxas. Her pulse quickened and she bit down on her lip. Still, she found that she could not take her eyes away, cold as it made her feel.

She thought that once she would have approached him, spoken to him, clearly insisted – or at least tried to – that he tell her what was going on. She would have been scared, of course. There was no denying that. But she was certain that once, before any of this began, she would have at least _tried_ to do something. She thought so, anyway. She liked to think that, at the very least.

She turned to see that Riku was sitting too, clearly awake as he glared at Roxas - though he too seemed to be gradually drifting away, taking lengthy times to open his eyes when he blinked and head falling heavier and heavier onto his palm.

Naminé, who sat just a short way from him, seemed to be the only one but Roxas who was totally alert. Kairi felt slightly uneasy as she saw that Naminé was watching her with an almost vacant expression on her face. Her mouth lay in a straight line and she was entirely still.

"What?" Kairi whispered sharply at her, finding herself oddly unnerved and faintly annoyed.

Naminé blinked in surprise, but did nothing else to acknowledge Kairi's reaction.

Continuing to glare, Kairi said, "Stop that!" Riku's eyes flickered over to them.

Naminé blinked again, this time her eyebrows pushing lightly together. She then quickly glanced downwards, and Kairi felt slightly guilty for a second or two.

* * *

><p>Naminé did not know how much time had passed when she opened her eyes. She scanned the room slowly, and saw that nothing seemed to have changed during the time she had slept.<p>

Riku appeared to have fallen asleep since, though, his head having fallen to one side at an awkward angle. His mouth had dropped slightly open and he didn't look anywhere close to waking up.

Roxas now lay casually, hovering just above the floor with his weight held on his shoulders. He gazed peacefully upwards towards some imaginary sky.

Kairi, who Naminé saw laying then as she turned away from Roxas, was looking into the same direction, but she did not share Roxas's calm expression. Instead, she frowned at the ceiling as her face or fingers twitched occasionally. Aside from those irregular burst of movement, she was entirely still.

Naminé did her best to avoid seeing Roxas as she turned to see what Sora was doing; she had developed a strange and almost constant desire to be aware of what those around her were doing in the brief time they had been here. He seemed to have only very recently woken up, making a vague attempt at finding where he was, and looking more as though he were petting the floor. Naminé couldn't stop the small smile that grew on her face, and let a genuine chuckle slip as he steadily pushed himself upwards only to fall down again. It was the faint, thoroughly miserable "Ow," that did it.

She felt immediately guilty as she remembered their situation, and quickly fell quiet as Kairi shot her a fierce look.

Sora had finally opened his eyes now, and lay fully awake on the floor. Noticing his movement in the background, Naminé automatically turned her eyes back to Roxas. He had pushed himself up so that he sat cross-legged. A slight smile had appeared on his face as he, with Naminé, watched Sora. He seemed to wait patiently for him to wake up. His smile broke into a complete grin as Sora managed to sit up properly, not immediately rushing back downwards to the floor like he had previously.

"Are we all awake now?" he asked softly.

Sora moved his mouth into strange shapes as he looked at Roxas, before glancing over to Riku. The older boy still sat asleep, his head having sunk further down so that it rested on is chest. "I don't think Riku is," Sora said quietly.

Roxas chuckled happily, and Naminé saw Kairi quickly roll her eyes. "Oh," Roxas said through his laughter. His face fell suddenly into a frown. "Well, I'm not waiting." His grin returned as he looked around at each of them. "Good news, did I mention?" he said gleefully. Nobody answered. He continued anyway. "We have something to do today!" He clapped his hands together. "Well," he said, tilting his head to one side thoughtfully, "we don't technically have days, but you get my meaning…" He shook his head roughly. "So, we're doing things. Does anybody think I should just wake Riku up right now? I don't think he'd want to miss this, considering all his moping yesterday." Kairi blinked, and looked as though she wanted to say something. She stayed silent, though, and Sora spoke instead.

"I'll get him up," he said, and Roxas nodded shortly.

Sora stood up and walked over to Riku. He gave his friends shoulder a rough push, and said his name quietly. Riku's eyes flickered open, and his head rose shakily from his chest. He looked sleepily up at Sora. "Riku, time to wake up," he said almost playfully. Riku then stiffened in shock and his eyes immediately turned to Roxas. Roxas grinned at him. "We've got things to do today!" he told him.

"Oh?" Riku said, watching him warily. "What do we have to do?"

Roxas let out a heavy sigh as he rolled his eyes. "I've already been through this. You don't _have_ to do anything." Roxas rested his head on his hands.

Riku glared, and seemed to make a great effort to keep himself seated. "What do you have for us to do, then?" he eventually asked flatly.

Roxas smiled as if to say 'there, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Naminé could almost hear the words, spoken in Roxas's voice. Riku gave a small, quick nod, prompting Roxas to continue talking. "Oh!" he said suddenly, his voice loud. "Sorry, yes. I forgot myself there." He held a hand out in apology. "We are all going for a walk."

"Didn't we already do that?" Sora said, his face scrunching a little.

"Yes. You have." Roxas nodded. "And I wouldn't make you repeat yourselves. That would be boring. It'll be exciting this time."

Riku just watched, waiting for him to continue.

"So," Roxas said, with childish excitement. "Get up everyone. We can't just sit around all day." Naminé quickly pushed herself up from the floor, and Kairi unwillingly did the same. Riku stood up so he was shoulder to shoulder with Sora.

Naminé was watching Kairi as the red haired girl's face darkened. Kairi's mouth quivered in what looked like fear.

Naminé frowned as she looked to Sora and Riku. They too looked around themselves warily, Sora head turning rapidly in all directions as though he were preparing to defend himself.

"What are you doing?" Riku asked, glaring at Roxas.

Naminé looked out into the white that stretched out around her. She could see nothing that had changed. Why was everybody-?

She turned quickly towards Roxas, shooting him a confused look. His head swivelled towards her, and he gave her a toothy grin. His eyes were wide and Naminé felt herself stiffen.

"What did you-?" she started, her voice thin and shaky, but Roxas shook his head at her and she cut off. Her hand found its way to her chest and her fingers played nervously with its neckline.

Roxas turned back to the rest of the group. He shrugged casually. "So apparently," he said, his voice light, "this is what you have to get through."

* * *

><p>Author's Note. Um, so. Yeah. I'm getting the weirdest feeling that I'm spending about half of this story decribing what people are doing with there eyes. It's all like 'She turned her eyes to her left to see that he had his eyes directed towards her and her eyes flashed, but she quickly turned her eyes to the floor but could still feel his eyes directed towards her and shut her eyes.' That's seriously all that I feel like I've written for 8000 words. Oh well.<p>

Anyway, thanks for running your eyes over my story and reading it. My eyes would burn with delight if you left a review, which you can do if you just turn your eyes to that little clicky linky thing down there. I love to see reviews (with my eyes.) Okay, I'm sorry, really, I'll stop that. But seriously, I love getting reviews. And thanks for reading!


	5. Questions

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not mine and I do not own it and it does not belong to me.

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><p>"<em>Hey, Riku! Riku!" Sora shouts clearly across the beach. The spiky-haired boy sprints towards his friend along the sand, the sea's edge splashing under his feet. <em>

_Riku is laying calmly at the ocean's edge, looking out into the deep blue distance._

_He responds to Sora with a turn of his head, smiling as the faint figure comes closer. Sora seems to run in slow motion. Eventually, he falls at Riku's side. _

_They sit shoulder to shoulder, and Sora grins brightly in the older boy's face. _

"_Hey," he says again, and Riku nods in reply. Another, sweeter and gentler smile grows on Sora's face, and Riku gives him a questioning look. "I've got something I wanna show you," Sora tells his friend, his voice soft and tinged with excitement. Riku's eyebrows push together as Sora twists around to pull something from beside him. "Oh?" he asked, ending the word with a light laugh. _

_Sora turned back to him, his hands cupped, and looks at Riku happily. _

_Riku's stomach twists tightly._

_.-***-._

"Roxas?" Naminé's voice shook horribly as the blond haired boy grinned at her. Though she didn't even think it could be called a grin, his lips spread too wide and leaving too much of his teeth exposed. Another chill sped through her, stinging her more terribly than before as she glanced around briefly to each of her companions. Sora, Riku and Kairi's eyes were all pointed straight at Roxas, but their empty glares seemed to have no effect. He continued to give Naminé that horrible, icy smile.

"What are you doing?" she persisted, making a desperate attempt to keep her voice steady. She could hear that she hadn't managed it and the quiver in her voice was perfectly audible.

"As I've been told to," Roxas informed her flatly.

"Are you hurting them?" Naminé asked clearly, forcing the strength in her tone.

Roxas merely shrugged.

Naminé had no way to reply.

They stood in silence. It grew thicker and thicker around them, pushing both of them to speak.

Naminé felt guilty admitting it, but the blank expressions of Sora, Riku and Kairi unnerved her. She honestly felt uneasy just looking at them.

"So, why you I wonder?" Roxas said, half to himself Naminé thought.

"What?" Naminé asked weakly in reply.

"Well, you know, you're not…" Roxas seemed to struggle to find the right word, scraping his tongue thoughtfully beneath his front teeth. He bobbed his shoulders lightly. "Going all creepy," he finally finished pathetically.

"I don't know," Naminé said, her voice scarcely more than a squeaky whisper. "I-I'm not… I've been called a witch before."

"Oooh," Roxas said, rolling his shoulders in a false, overdone shiver.

Naminé's eyes fell downwards. She was quiet for several long and painful moments, and then looked up again to Roxas. "Who are you?" she asked, quietly pleading.

Roxas smiled at her gently, but did not reply.

"What have you been 'told to do,' then?" Naminé tried again.

Roxas sighed. "This," he said plainly, sweeping his hand in the direction of the others. He glanced around in Naminé's direction, as tough he were waiting for a reaction.

He let out another long breath when he was given no response. "I have to…I… well, I don't really… understand it. But it confuses them. Just for the minute you know?" He grinned. "And it's entertaining. It's like… when you get little shorts at the cinema before the film starts. You know?"

Naminé stared at him blankly, blinking in lack of understanding.

Roxas shook his head slowly and, Naminé thought, almost despairingly. He shrugged then and said, "No, I don't suppose you do."

Naminé's eyes drifted again to the floor, but she caught herself and fiercely turned up again to Roxas. "

.-***-.

_Kairi is a little shaky as she is guided onto the small island that lies just beside the mainland. With her stands her new guardian, her 'aunty' as the woman insists. The young girl isn't so sure about her, her clear, unblemished face and faintly musky smell unnerving Kairi just a little. But the red-haired child does not know _why, _and all around her say that she is silly for being nervous of such a kind lady. And how would she know a thing anyway? She barely knows where she is. Being only five does not help in her favour, either. _

"_Go on Kairi," she is told as a warm gentle hand and gentle hand nudges at her back. She automatically stiffens and attempts to dig her sandaled feet into sand. "Come on, I'll go with you if you like?" _

_Kairi considers this for a moment, then nods. _

_The woman continues onto the beach, taking Kairi's tiny hand into her own. Kairi still trails slightly behind. _

_On the sand, two boys are playing together. Each holding a fake wooden sword in their grip, they do not seem to be at all attempting to reach the other at all; instead they simply bash their weapons together in a single, repetitive motion. They laugh shout at each other as they play at fighting. _

Aunty _looks out at them with an uneasy expression. She turns to smile softly at Kairi. "Let's sit down, 'kay" She slowly places herself down onto the sand next to Kairi's feet. "Come on," she says, patting the ground softly._

_Kairi sits down._

_.-***-._

"Then," Naminé said, "What are you doing? Please, just... tell me."

Roxas sighed deeply. "Please, stop repeating yourself. That's, what, the third time you've asked me now? It's getting a _teensy _bit… well, annoying." Naminé said nothing, and Roxas smiled sweetly. "And anyway, telling's no fun. I already said, didn't I?"

"How long is this going to last?" Naminé said, looking around to Sora, Riku and Kairi. They all still stood completely still, almost looking silly.

"It'll run itself out soon enough," he said, strolling over to her calmly and also staring over at their companions.

"What does that mean?" Naminé asked.

Roxas shrugged, and they stood in silence.

Roxas exhaled, his eyes falling shut, and Naminé turned to him. "This might take a while," he told her, in an odd sort of apology.

"Why?" Naminé asked.

"What?" Roxas answered in whisper, the word accompanied by a faint smile.

"You said… you said before that this… was meant to- to entertain you," she said, tripping on the words. Her voice became uncharacteristically harsh as she finished, "How is this _entertaining_?"

"It's not _for_ me," he informed her simply, tilting his head at a slight angle as he looked ahead of him.

"Then who is it-" She cut off as he grinned again. Why did he insist in grinning so regularly? Instead, she mumbled, "Stop it." Roxas rolled his eyes in amusement, his smile refusing to fade.

"Any more questions?" he asked pleasantly.

Naminé pulled an arm to her shoulder, squeezing across her chest. "What are we going to do next?"

.-***-.

_Sora cannot remove the grin that has been plastered across his face for the last half of the hour - at least._ _Him, Riku, Kairi, all of them, finally together at home again._ _It's beautiful, and the sun is as strong as can be as it glares down at them. The sand is warm and the sea glistens as they laugh and just _talk _together about the silliest thing that they can think up, even if it's only to keep their minds on _now. _He doesn't even begin to think about what will happen next, nor does it occur to him that this peace will only be brief. He's busy just _being.

_Kairi shares his brilliant smile as she watches him sit sprawled across the sand in the sun. Riku, too, though lips remain pushed together and his grin doesn't spread over half of his face like his friends'. _

_Sora would be happy for nothing to ever happen again, if it means he can stay right here._

_.-***-._

Roxas giggled, but Naminé thought that he sounded just slightly uneasy. But she quickly forgot, and her odd, quiet fear of the situation overrode any interest in this person other than getting him away from the people she cared about. Her eyes turned icy as she looked to him.

"Um," he said, thoughtfully drawing the word out. "I don't know that either." He shrugged, holding his hands up just in front of his chest guiltily. "I know nothing, at all. It's rather unfair. I would complain, but I'm not sure who to go to, _to_ complain. Also I doubt they'd be all too happy."

"Why?" Naminé asked, with some disinterest. She had no reason to be at all interested in _Roxas's _life - and she wasn't. But who knew, maybe he'd slip up and tell her something he shouldn't? Naminé doubted it.

Roxas laughed harshly. "Because they're not half as nice as I am."

Naminé knew her fear at this remark showed on her face, and Roxas seemed to find it quite funny. She frowned, and looked away from him pointedly.

"Aw, they're lovely really. I'm sure. Maybe." Roxas clicked his teeth together. "Um, yeah. Dunno."

Naminé blinked, sucking her lips in.

Roxas suddenly straightened, his expression brightening again to a proper smile. "Oh!" he said, twisting again to face the trio that stood eerily at their sides. "I think that…" He seemed to struggle for a moment, scrunching hid features and looking for the first time rather strained.

"Are they…" Naminé started, beginning to sigh with relief. She wasn't sure how to word what was happening before her, and settled on simply gesturing in the direction of Sora, Riku and Kairi.

Roxas shook his head, and breathed a soft, "No."

"What happens now?" Naminé said, just as gently.

"Just wait a bit, Nami, 'kay?" Roxas said quite kindly, and pouting slightly. Naminé attempted a harsh, most definitely fear-inducing glare, but her own worry caught her again.

"Are you going to hurt them?" Naminé whimpered.

"I don't think so."

"What does that mean," Naminé said, her voice clear and fierce as she took a step to the side so that she stood directly in front of Roxas.

"Sorry, just… I _really _need to focus for a minute, okay? So… shhhh."

He gently pushed her by the waist to the side. Stepping out of his way, Naminé continued to stare at Roxas viciously. She somehow suspected that had he not become so suddenly preoccupied he would be laughing at her right now.

.-***-.

_Riku's chest burns. The pain is terrible as he lies in the pitch black that fill his bedroom. He can't sleep, he couldn't even hope to, but he is honestly glad of it. _

_Something rustles softly outside of his window. His eyes fly open as he turns his head to the side so that he peers through the misty glass, able to see the stars if nothing else. The window frame lays just open, so that a gentle gust of air floats into his bedroom to play with the paper that rests on his wooden desk. He falls onto his back roughly, shaking his bed and sending a harsh clang across the room. Sighing, he forced his eyes shut tight enough for it to hurt, though in the darkness it made little impact. _

_A light whisper reaches him, and he lets out a grumbling, sleepy moan. He shakes his head in a confused attempt to repel the sound. As he is treated to silence again for a few moments, he falls still again. The pain doesn't vanish, but it seems muted somewhat. Relaxing, he shifts so he is lying fairly comfortably on his back. _

_He is disturbed again, but this time the sound is coming from his door, travelling up from downstairs. Sighing into the dark, he shoves his head into his pillow to mask the sound. It grows louder, and with ow difficult he is finding it to sleep, it is simply impossible to block out. _

_Unhappily, he crawls out of his bed and bed and staggers to the doorway, barely able to keep his eyes far enough open to see the thin streak of light that flickers through as he pulls on the doorknob. _

"-oh, but this is rather-"

_More noise comes, harsher this time. For the first time, Riku feels just a little nervous. His chest pain returns at full force, and he flinches as his hand automatically rises to the centre of the hurt. As he clumsily climbs out of the door, his head spins. The movement is dizzying, and he feels as though he is being forced from side to side by some invisible force. He very nearly collapses into the doorframe as he goes. _

_He stumbles across the floor a few metres, one hand still gripped firmly against his chest. A terrifyingly steep stairway swims in front of his half opened eyes, and he swings an arm until his hand is able to gain a good grasp on the banister. His head falls against the wood and he groans softly at the mild pain._

"_Riku?" a gentle voice calls out. He doesn't answer, and he is left again in silence. _

_Wondering vaguely quite what he was doing here again, he seats himself on the top step, burning his skin slightly as his side skids down the banister. His eyes falls shut._

"So, what? He falls asleep? That's a bit-"

_The air turns icy, and Riku shivers violently as his eyes fly open. "Wha-" he stutters, his voice wobbling as he frantically pushes himself up. Nearly tripping on the top step, Riku backs away from the stairway._

_Yet another thunderous clang shoots its way up the stairs. Riku sucks in a long and heavy breath and edges down the stairs at an impossibly slow pace, his back forced to the wall to help him keep his unreliable balance._

_He finally steps again onto flat and dependable ground. He sighs in strange relief, but is cut of as more noise arrives from the nearest room. Tensing, his eyes open wide and his fingers bend into claws. _

"Ooh! If you're going to- Oh? Fine. But this is ridiculous."

_Riku rubs a hand roughly at his eye as he steps into the room. There is next to no light, and he fumbles for the switch. His hand finds a cold, smooth area of the wall, and he pushes his finger down until he is greeted with a loud click. He squeezes his eyes hurriedly as bright, blinding light attacks them, and he is unable to unclench them for several moments._

_They are brought open again by a mumble that carries clearly across the room. The voice is high and cold, sending a chill through as he spins his head in a frantic search to find the source of the noise. _

_A lower gurgle comes, and Riku turns to the far corner of the room. He squints, unable to see a thing, instead just the old and tattered carpet that has been pushed around enough to have crawled its way up the wall. Taking an uneasy step back, he pulls an arm up to lay across his chest, in defence rather than as a response to his now forgotten pain._

"_Huh?" he says, as odd murmurs come at him from all corners of the room. _

_His shoulders are held in a tight grip as he is pulled backwards._

_He cries out in shock, pulling away violently. He is unable to loosen himself, and he tries to turn to see what stands behind him. His head is held firmly in place and he involuntarily whimpers. His breathing is heavy as he continues to struggle. _

_The room blacks out again, and Riku's train of thought is a muddy blur. Unable to move and with no desire to try, he stands in dark and thoughtless silence. _

"Hmm? Oh, well if you're just going to leave it. That's terribly lazy, you know? If you need help-"

"I don't need help. I- it- There's a point, to this. Okay?"

"Well, then, maybe you should-oh, oh. Go on, then."

_His mother called down to him. "Riku?" _

_He doesn't respond, his feet still rooted insistently to the ground._

_Footsteps make their way closer, noise bashing at his eardrums as sound comes further down the stairs._

"Oh, _no_. That's just-"

"_Riku?" his mother's voice repeats, this time tinged with worry and sounding to Riku sharp enough to hurt. He can't quite understand what he is expected to do now. Should he reply to his name? Call out in response? But he can't. He can't even _think_, let alone form a reasonable sentence. He seems to float._

_Ever more concern creeps into his mother's tone, as she calls again, "Who- who's there? Riku, is that you? What- who's there?"_

_A vague part of Riku's mind wishes to console her, but he can't quite process exactly what that part is. So he ignores it. _

"What are you-? Oh leave this. Let- just let me take it, okay?"

"What? No! I have this, just give me some-"

"I've already given you plenty of time, thank you. Now, if you could just leave this to me and get on with your actual job. You have one of those you know?"

"Yes I know. And I'm doing it just fine. It's almost like you're deliberately _trying_ to hold me back."

"No need to sound so accusing."

"I wasn't. But you are _tiring_."

"Well. Maybe you should get on with this job that you claim to be _so very efficient at_."

"I don't think that's even- Oh. Uh."

"Mm-hm."

"Just- wait a sec, 'kay?"

"'Kay."

.-***-.

"Roxas?" Naminé asked, placing alight hand on his shoulder. He shook it away automatically, and turned his head to Naminé. His eyes were wide in mild surprise, and his mouth hung slightly open. He blinked.

"Naminé?" he answered, then shook his head in small but violent movements. He flashed a grin.

"What just happened?" Naminé asked quietly, her hands grasped together at her chest.

"I was rather _rudely interrupted_-" he shouted the last two words, "-by a _dear_ friend of mine." He looked straight at Naminé, glaring directly into her eyes. "Who isn't here, so don't ask."

Naminé looked downwards, uncomfortable. "What about Sora, Riku and Kairi?"

"They'll be fine. Just…er, well, I'm not done yet."

Naminé stared at him in disbelief. "But it must have been hours!" she cried.

"Uh, yeah. It's… tricky, okay?" He shrugged awkwardly. "I wasn't… it wasn't _working _quite right."

"What?" Naminé said, suddenly feeling more than just a little panic creeping up on her. "Are they hurt?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and, predictably, chuckled. "No." He smiled at her in way that seemed to be trying for sympathetic. "Silly, they're fine. Well, they _will_ be. They maybe aren't now."

"Then stop it!" Naminé told him firmly.

"Huh?" Roxas frowned.

"Stop whatever it is that you're doing. If it's hurting them, then I- I can't let you-"

Roxas sighed heavily. "It isn't hurting them, I never said that."

"You just said that they weren't-"

"I said that they weren't fine, yes. And they're not. People generally aren't at their best when the only thing that they can do is stare off into space. Obviously. But that doesn't mean I'm _hurting_ them." He smiled, his eyebrows rising. "A little paranoid, aren't we?"

Naminé felt rare anger growing. "No, I am not," she said firmly. "You're hurting my friends. How could I accept that?"

"_Why _do I keep having to repeat myself to you? I am not hurting them. They are not hurt, and they will not, as long as they are here, _be _hurt. Unless you all do something incredibly stupid, in which case I can make no guarantees for any of your safety."

"What do you-"

Roxas gave her an annoyed look. "No, let me finish. I admit that I am not, maybe, entirely, totally, 100 percent in control of everything here. I think I've said that before too, but… yeah. There are people above me. But, honestly, I think that I am a reliable enough source to say that you probably aren't going to be desperately damaged beyond repair. Good enough?"

"Probably?" Naminé asked weakly.

Roxas smiled, apparently satisfied. "Yeah, it's good enough." He turned back to Sora, Riku and Kairi. "Now if you could just be a_ little_ patient. This will be quick. Ish. With a little luck, you know?" He nodded happily, though Naminé had only responded with a rather vicious glare. "Good," he said, flatly, still bobbing his head up and down as he turned away again.

.-***-.

"No. I finished last time for you. That's it. So no, I am not letting you anywhere near them again. Leave me to do these ones."

"What? No, I've got to-"

"You haven't got to. Nobody ever said that you've 'got to' except for you. And, besides, I don't trust you."

"Well, how can you ever learn to if you're not even gonna let me _try_-"

"You will wait, and practice, and then you can try again."

"You aren't going to let me do this, are you?"

"No".

"Even if I beg?"

"Still no. Feel free to try, though."

"No! Not if you're just going to be all '_no_' again."

"Then stop going on about it. You have plenty of time to complain, only _some when else_."

"Well, I've still got to see what's happening. You know, I do have things that I actually _do_ have to do. Heh."

"Why is everything funny to you? And you can see what's happening just fine without my help. But don't think for a second you can nag me into letting you do something."

"I wasn't going to."

"'Course not."

"Be quiet. Can we just get on with this?"

"Mm-hm."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: So yeah. This chapter wasn't <em>complete<em> nonsense, honestly. Most of it has some point that'll come up later. Probably. Sorry.

Thank you to the very kind people who have reviewed this so far, it is really, really appreciated.

And thanks for reading, too. Um, yeah. Sorry if I made any mistakes or anything in this chapter, I do check, but I might miss things. If I did, sorry.


	6. Running in Dreams

Disclaimer: Do I still need to write these? Oh well, I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I probably never will. I own nothing. All that stuff.

* * *

><p>It was, Naminé would guess, around five hours before Roxas had… finished whatever it was that he was doing. She had stood at his side for a lengthy amount of time, watching him to see if he did anything to suggest that he was almost done. After about half an hour though, she had given up, and instead sat down on the floor. Occasionally, she found that she was growing dangerously close to sleep, but she shook it away, determined to insist that she was given an explanation. As soon as possible, was what she aimed for. Still, she doubted she would be given any real information. She wondered if it was even worth trying, really.<p>

Of course, it was worth her effort, if it meant sooner getting out of here. And she didn't trust 'Roxas,' or whoever he was supposed to be. How could she?

He didn't move at all for the time that she waited, keeping a blank but determined expression spread across his face through the long hours. At times she wanted to grab him, to scream in his face, to make any desperate attempt at stopping him that she was able to try.

But she didn't. She stayed calm, obedient, submissive to any request he made, like she always did. It pained her, but what else could she do? With no idea how much power he had, where they were, what happened from then onwards; what could she ever do, if it meant he might hurt her friends? Nothing. That was all she could ever do. She hated that, of course. It was only natural. But hating her own actions gave her no advantage. It didn't even make her feel better.

Urgh, she was so sleepy.

When she finally heard movement, she opened her eyes to find that her head had fallen to rest heavily on her own shoulder. Panicking at the realization that she must have fallen asleep, she spun her frantically around to see what was happening. She froze as bright blue eyes met her own, hanging far closer than they should have.

Roxas, she realised, with little surprise. He sat at her side, imitating her cross-legged position on the floor.

"Did I…" she mumbled sleepily, her eyes fluttering as she tried to keep them open.

"Shh," Roxas comforted, smiling gently at her. "You fell asleep." He spoke softly, keeping a warm expression as he placed a soothing hand on her shoulder. Attempting to guide her downwards so that she lay on the floor, Naminé quickly forced her elbows down so that she sat resting on them.

"No," she said firmly. "What happened?"

Roxas rolled his eyes, pulling his hand away. "You fell asleep," he repeated "Dunno when. I wasn't really paying attention."

Suddenly remembering Sora, Riku and Kairi, Naminé turned hurriedly from Roxas. The trio lay sprawled on the floor not to far from her and Roxas. They were packed close together, as though they had been dumped there, each dropped on top one another and since moved. They appeared to be asleep.

"They're sleeping," Roxas confirmed chirpily. He swayed from side to side, a hand gripped at each knee as he smiled.

"Are they-"

"They're fine," Roxas interrupted impatiently, though his grin stayed firmly in place. "They're just tired. They'll wake up soon enough." He leant forward in an apparent warning. "Just don't disturb them, okay?"

Naminé simply looked at him, finding herself horribly worried, again. This place did things to her.

Roxas chuckled. He then flinched in seeming surprise, blinking and jumping backwards as though he were being shoved.

"What happened?" Naminé asked, in interest rather than concern.

Roxas frowned at her, apparently not entirely sure what had happened himself. But he soon forced his grin to return, and suddenly looked quite pleased with himself. His eyes widened as he giggled, and then he straightened his back with pure, giddy joy on his face. He looked half tempted to gleefully clap his hands together. He sighed. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

Naminé took a breath, but saw that Roxas's attention had already been stolen from her, and he was now gazing rather intently at Sora, Riku and Kairi. Sora wriggled closer to Kairi in his sleep. Riku dropped onto his back as Sora's leg slipped from underneath him. Naminé thought she saw Roxas shiver. Her eyebrows pushed together, and she pulled her arms tight around her chest.

Turning again quite unexpectedly to Naminé, Roxas's were bared and he climbed up to walk over to their companions.

When he reached them, he leant over Sora, kneeling down so that their faces were held close together. Squinting at him, Roxas nudged the sleeping boy's shoulder gently. Dazedly attempting to shake Roxas away, Sora mumbled something indistinct. Roxas sighed, hissing air rapidly through his teeth in annoyance.

"Sora," he whispered into the other boy's ear. Sora didn't move, aside from taking a sharp breath in his sleep. Looking extremely irritated, Roxas stood up again. He pulled his leg back, swinging it gently, forwards and back again. His foot hovered for a few moments, before he placed it back onto the floor.

Naminé frowned at him, and he looked back at her to flash a quick smile. Turning to look down again, he suddenly gave Sora a hard shove at the base of his spine, digging his toe in so that the boy jumped as his eyes flew open.

"Wha-?" he murmured, gazing upwards at Roxas. "What's happening?" Sleepily, he rolled over onto his side.

"Hey, Sora!" Roxas said to him cheerfully. "How're you feeling?"

"Roxas?" Sora mumbled, pushing himself up onto his elbows.

"Yup! Great, isn't it?"

"Huh?"

Roxas sighed in a terribly melodramatic fashion. "You gotta get up now!"

Sora squinted at him dazed confusion. "I was asleep?"

"Mmmm-hm," Roxas confirmed, shuffling into a comfortable kneel besides Sora. His face fell to give Sora serious and almost warning look. "Now, please, get out of my way so I can wake lovely Riku and Kairi too."

"I could help," Sora offered, his voice eager in a tired sort of way. Still, he dazedly wearily slid backwards so that Roxas could easily reach his friends.

"No, thank you, Sora," Roxas replied, nodding at the other boy politely and giving him a sweet smile. "I'd rather do it myself, if that's alright."

Sora agreed, nodding his head loosely as his eyes fluttered shut. Roxas looked over to him pityingly, his expression caught between amusement and disgust as his eyes scanned across the boy. Jumping suddenly, Sora quickly forced his eyes open again, but as he pushed himself up, the movement still seemed to be something of a struggle.

Sora staggered over to Naminé, who still sat cross-legged on the white floor.

"Hey Naminé," he said gently, falling down at her side.

Naminé turned to him, frowning quite deeply. "Sora."

"Huh?" He smiled, leaning towards her. "Naminé? Is something up?"

Something in his voice makes Naminé feel just slightly uneasy. But she answers, "I don't know what's happening. It's all…" She turned to her side, eyes widening in surprise.

"Sora?" she asked, as he stood up and started to walk away. "What are you doing?"

Sora scanned across the floor. He bit his lip as a slight crease formed between his eyebrows. "Uh, sorry?"

Naminé blinked. "Where are you going?"

"Over…" He scrunched his face a little. The question apparently caused him some confusion. "I… dunno." He grinned awkwardly. Feeling panic creep up on her, Naminé scrambled up from the floor and took quick steps to where Sora stood. "What did he do?" she asked quickly looking searchingly into his face.

"Who? Naminé, stop it, you're…" His voice trailed off and Naminé's worry grew. "What are you talking about?"

"Roxas. He… did something, to the three of you."

Sora frowned. "Roxas? When..." He smiled calmly, as though some wonderful thought had unexpectedly struck him. "I think I'm going to lie down. That alright?"

Naminé was distracted by Roxas breathing into her ear. Her surprised jump made the blond haired boy giggle.

"Roxas," Naminé muttered, annoyed. Sora had lay on the floor a short distance from the feet, and Naminé frowned in concern.

"You were just talking about me!" Roxas said to her with glee. He leaned backwards with his usual ridiculous, enormous grin.

Naminé, recovering from her now-automatic impatience with him, remembered what was happening. "What did you do to him? You said you wouldn't hurt them!" her voice was raised, and it stung her throat.

"Oh not this 'don't hurt them' stuff again? I haven't hurt him. He's fine. He just woke up. He had stuff. What do you except?" Roxas held his hands up in a shrug of dismissal.

Naminé was completely still, except for the rapid flickering of her eyes between each of Roxas's. "'He had stuff.' What does that mean?" she asked accusingly, her voice sounding distant. The words seemed to hover out of her, hanging in the air and bit by bit losing their meaning.

"Give him time. He'll be himself again soonish."

"What about Riku and Kairi?" Naminé said quietly, as Sora climbed up from the ground very suddenly, and began to glare at the floor in apparent confused frustration. "Weren't you waking them up too?"

"Yeah…" Roxas said, guiltily biting harshly at his bottom lip. "They're still a bit… unconscious."

"Unconscious? You said that they were asleep," Naminé said weakly.

"Asleep sounds a lot nicer," Roxas said. "Also, it's shorter," he added as an afterthought.

"When will they-"

Roxas waved his arms in exasperation, clenching his hands tightly enough to stain his knuckles white. "Questions! More? Really? Don't you ever get sick of questions, questions, more and more, questions? I am tying, very hard, to be nice, kind, courteous, polite, good, all that nice stuff. Maybe I am not the best at that. But oh dear, Naminé. You're almost as annoying as poor old Riku over there." He seemed to be making attempts to calm himself as he spoke, gradually loosening his shaky fists and putting on a polite smile that clashed with his words. He looked down again at Naminé despairingly. "Okay, maybe I'm not trying that hard anymore." He tilted his head in thought.

"What did Riku ever do?" Naminé asked, ignoring his last comment.

Frowning, Roxas didn't seem especially sure. "I dunno. Nothing to me, as such. He did basically kill Roxas once, but hey. Not me, right? He is a bit annoying though." He shrugged.

"Then why are you-"

"You see?" Roxas interrupted. "Questions. They're fine in moderation, but too many and they're just kind of… bad. Really annoying."

"You're… not trying to help, are you?" Naminé said, turning away from him to see the sleepy Riku and Kairi slowly waking up, and Sora still searching around himself like a lost child.

Roxas simply smiled, amused, as though Naminé had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

She was fairly sure that she hadn't. She said nothing.

When she heard the rustling and rubbing together of cloth, and then slow beat of close footsteps moving from her, she didn't turn around.

Walking away, Roxas didn't look back to her. She turned to Sora again, and took nervous steps towards him.

"Sora?" she asked softly, looking upwards at him.

He smiled softly, eyes distant and almost blank, Naminé thought. The fear came back again. "Hi," he said.

"What did he do to you?" Naminé asked gently.

"Naminé, what are you talking about?" Sora asked, giggling. It wasn't the same as Roxas's near constant laughter, though; rather it was softer, sweeter, and a hundred times more genuine. It was _Sora_. Thinking this almost made Naminé feel better.

Only almost, though. "I don't know. I don't know what, but you are _not okay_," she told him firmly.

He frowned. "Sure I am." Pausing to think, he squinted. "But… I…" Thinking was apparently an immensely challenging activity, and Sora seemed to strain to find his words. He finally settled on, "Where are we?"

Naminé bit on her lip. "I don't know. Do you…" Now she too struggled to form a sentence, unsure quite how to phrase her simple question. "Don't you remember…?"

Sora smiled faintly. "Remember what, Naminé?"

"What…?" Naminé said faintly. "I don't…" What?

She wondered where Roxas had gone to, but couldn't bring herself to look around. A faint, pleasant buzzing hit her ears. It stung, and somehow it was nice. It grew louder, tugged at her, inviting her to join it. How sweet. She mentally declined their offer. Returning again to her spot on the floor, she wasn't quite so sure what was happening. The world dizzied her.

Instead of thinking to hard about it, instead she looked over at the boy sitting next to her. A cheerful, confused, wonderfully natural smile was pulled across his face. He looked so happy now, and she couldn't help smiling back. Sora had really bright clothes on she thought. They were nice clothes, good clothes, soft, warm looking clothes, but they were painfully bright. She had to shut her eyes a little, where the sudden burst of colour against the pure, plain old white hurt her head. Although her head hurt anyway, so she just laughed at it. It was quite funny actually. And Sora just kind of sat there, where she could see him through her eyelids. He just laughed to himself, and continued chuckling when she opened her eyes. He looked really different when she could see him. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing, because it had colours, and colours hurt her head more than thinking did. Wondering vaguely what was happening - though of course not thinking too hard, because that made her brain throb – she let herself fall backwards against the floor, so she was lying down. Her back stung a bit when she hit the surface, but it faded because the floor was exciting. It felt like it was moving underneath her, swinging back and forth, rushing up and down, and then unexpectedly speeding forward. It was like flying, like a pretty magic carpet soaring wildly through icy air, except warmer. She liked the feeling.

Sora was still laughing.

* * *

><p>Kairi woke up to find Riku's back pushed up against her own. He fell forward as she climbed up, landing flat onto his face in a way that was almost funny. The air around her was warm, and her head light, and she very nearly found herself chuckling. A smile had formed, her mouth open to begin. Kairi remembered what was happening, then, and any humour flew straight out of her.<p>

Roxas sat cross-legged just from her. – Or, not Roxas, right? She hadn't ever met him, not really. He had been a voice in her head once. How could she know who was and wasn't him? But she would take the others' words that this boy was something else. He was undeniably creepy, the discomfort she felt knowing he was there urged her to trust her friends. And he'd said as much himself, anyway.

He sat then with his eyes held shut, his mouth pushed into a determined frown. Funny. All the time she'd seen him before, his smile hadn't disappeared even once. But right now he looked as though he were concentrating, unmoving as he sat.

Kairi looked around herself. It was strange. Everything seemed a little foggy, like she had just been viciously tugged out of the most enchanting dream. Or perhaps like her head had been shaken roughly about and had the pieces only haphazardly put back into their places. It was a little dizzying. She attempted to focus.

Looking around herself, she saw that Sora was seated across from her, chuckling over something with Naminé.  
>Naminé. Another one of the people she longed to learn more about. She had missed so much of her friends' journeys, and now that she was involved in one she felt entirely lost. And slightly ill, though she couldn't blame that on a lack of information.<p>

Wishing to walk over to the pair, she tried to take a step. Though she stood quite stably, the movement proved too much of an effort, and she nearly toppled backwards again onto the floor. Weird. Though her spinning, swimming head couldn't be doing her any favours.

She tried to shake away the daze, but the sharp movement only brought on a heavier spout of dizziness, and her hands automatically went to grip around her skull.

She turned over to Roxas again, her head throbbing. One of his eyes opened, and he smiled as he saw her, hurriedly clambering up from the floor to push a satisfied grin into her face. She flinched backwards, and he rolled his eyes, though he continued smiling. She glanced uneasily over to Riku, who still lay completely still.

"Kairi! Goodie, you're awake. I've been sitting with Naminé for _ages _and… well, I won't say much else, because I really don't wish to offend anyone."

Kairi blinked. "W-What are you talking ab-bout?" she stuttered. Why did he make her so horribly nervous? She'd met bad people before, and nothing he had done was worse than any of them. In fact, he hadn't_ done _anything.

Roxas's eyes widened a little in something Kairi suspected might have been annoyance. Still, he beamed at her. "Nothing," he said, waving a dismissive hand to one side. "I want you to go for a walk with me." He pulled his hands together in a single clap.

Kairi frowned at him, and he gave her a terrible scowl in return, his whole body drooping as he sighed in apparently unexpected disappointment.

"Why do want me to go with you?" She folded her arms in a way that she hoped looked at lest a little bit threatening – or at least intimidating enough to make up for the shakiness of her voice. "And why do you think I would?"

"Um…Well, I would have explained the first one on the way. I don't think I will now, seeing as you were so rude about it."

"Well, good, because I'm not going with you," Kairi interrupted viciously.

"Yes, you _are_ going with me," Roxas told her simply, his tone flat.

Kairi widened her eyes, very deliberately. "You can't make me," she answered, with fierce insistence that matched Roxas's.

Roxas forced his teeth together harshly. "Kairi, you are going with me," he said severely, for the first time glaring directly into her eyes. "You are scared, you are confused, and, if you take a look around, you will find that, right now, you are alone."

Kairi tried desperately to keep eye contact, but couldn't help but let her eyes search around for Sora and Riku. "W-What do you mean?" she started, stuttering again. "My friends are right here." She was aware that she did not sound so convinced as her voice shook crazily. _Don't let him get to you, _she thought to herself. _Or at least don't let him see that he is. That's just_ _he's trying to-_

Her train of thought was sharply interrupted as Roxas failed to contain a high laugh.

"Stop it," she hissed. "If you've hurt them-"

He held his face close to hers, and his mouth twitched as he struggled to hold in his giggles. "Hm?" He tilted his head questioningly at her.

"Sora?" she called out to her friend. He had fallen against Naminé's side, seemingly asleep. She was greeted with silence. Her stomach twisted violently, and her head throbbed harder than ever. Stepping into the beginning of a sprint to him, Roxas speedily wrapped an arm tightly around her waist.

"No," he said flatly, sounding almost bored.

"Get off of me!" she spat, tugging franticly at his arm. "Sora!" she screamed. Riku still lay on the floor, unmoved from the position he had been in since she woke. "Riku! _Riku_!"

"They're fine," Roxas informed her calmly, apparently completely at ease over the whole situation. Anger rushed through her, and she took a furious swipe at his arm. "_Let go of me_!"

"Come with me," Roxas offered, baring his teeth in smile.

His arm, pulled across her stomach and covered by more than one thick layer of cloth, somehow felt icy against her. It caused her stomach to tie itself up into knots, tight, messy little bows that ached excruciatingly inside of her. Without meaning to, her nails dug into the flesh on the side of her hand. They were sharp enough to pierce her skin, and she let out a small yelp at the pain.

She didn't know what else to do as her heart raced in her chest. "Fine," she eventually muttered, defeated and feeling disgusted at herself for it.

Roxas grinned, and slid his grip down her arm into the palm of her hand, clenching her fingers tightly between his own. She tried yanking his away, but he grasped tighter, and she flinched again in pain. Not wishing him to see that he could hurt her, she tried to pull her face into a blank mask. She cursed that the tears welling up in her eyes weren't so easy to discreetly get rid of. Her arms shook, and she looked right at Roxas. "Where are we going? You can tell me that at least."

Roxas's hold did not loosen as his shoulders slumped. "Questions!" He sighed, though it turned into something rather closer to an irritated growl. "You're worse than Naminé!" he said incredulously. He seemed to be rather amazed that such a thing was even possible.

This time, Kairi managed to keep her eyes pointed straight into his. "I'm glad to hear it," she said, satisfied that she had, here at least, been able to keep her voice almost entirely steady.

Rolling his eyes, but then forming a soft smile, he said, "Come on then," and Kairi nearly found herself admiring his perfectly polite tone. He guided her away from her friends by the hand. He was slightly ahead of her, moving in a way that almost resembled a skip. Fighting the desire to try and escape, holding herself tightly back from running over to Sora and Riku and finding out for herself if they were hurt, and ignoring the terrible throbbing that bashed itself around her skull, she followed.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Yeah. I think this chapter maybe seemed a little rushed? Like, it moved too fast? I don't know, Kairi just kinda wandered off. Sorry. And I think I wrote this chapter sort of weirdly. Part of that was sort of intentional, but... I don't now if I'm that happy with it. So sorry if this wasn't very good. Hm.<p>

Also, I realise that, right now, everything I write in this story is pretty much nonsense. It is going somewhere, really, but I think I might just be boring people. I know I can kind of beg for reviews a lot, but I'd like to know if it's sort of off putting. If you could tell me?

Anyway, thanks if you've read this far into my nonsense. And as I've said before, I really do appreciate getting reviews. They don't have to be nice, I love recieving criticism, even if it's harsh. It's the only way my writing will improve. So yeah, thanks again for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts

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><p>They walked for a long time, and nothing around them seemed to change at all. Whenever Kairi dragged her eyes up from the floor, she was repeatedly shocked to find that she was surrounded only by that blank, aching white. It scared her, sent cold running though her body in a reminder that she was alone, only with the boy who had walked silently ahead of her for what must have been hours and who terrified beyond anything else here. She wondered vaguely how long it had been sine she had eaten, how long she had been in this place at all.<p>

Every now and then, she would almost call out to Roxas, insist that he take her back to her friends, beg him to. But her breath always caught in her throat, dragged back downwards into her stomach.

She had thought about running, too, of course. Roxas had long since stopped paying her any attention, apparently caught up in some other world that he seemed to exist in. But even considering it made her legs begin to shake and burn and stiffen and her feet cling to the ground like stone. She was almost fine once she resolved to follow Roxas again, but it left a dull ache in her head and an odd feeling of invasion.

Her mind still swam from thought to thought, everything seeming to blurry and distant for her to form a proper thought. Again, instinct told her to fight, to run, to scream, to kick. To do everything she could just to _get away from that boy_. But she couldn't. And she dreamily accepted it.

She kept walking, tearing her eyes from the ground to examine the world around her. Pure, blank, empty white. Lovely, she thought calmly, but determinedly attempted to stare it out.

Although, as she gazed out at it for a few moment, it almost was. Lovely. It was faceless, and daunting, and never-ending, but because of that, she reasoned, it couldn't hurt her. _Him, _over there, strolling oh so cheerfully along in front of her,_ he_ could hurt her. And would, she didn't doubt, if she so much as took the tiniest step out of the pathway he'd so delicately laid out for her. God, it frustrated her. She wanted to run. Why couldn't she, anyway? Why would she want to stay here with _him_?

Her legs froze onto the floor as an icy ache drifted outwards from the centre of her scalp. It sunk into her skull and the burning white made acid rise in her throat. She coughed on it as it burned at the roof of her mouth. Roxas didn't flinch, simply continuing instead to walk bouncily ahead of her. She wasn't sure if she was imagining him slowing his steps down slightly, and she didn't much care as she tried to keep her body from collapsing roughly onto the ground. It felt oddly like she was being disassembled, or maybe as if she were falling asleep. Or both, she thought. Yes. It hurt, as it should have, but once she got past that it seemed almost quite peaceful.

.-***-.

"Kairi?" Her name was spoken in a light chuckle. Her eyes flickered open, and her mind felt immediately clearer, like the clouds were drifting apart. The white stung her eyes, and they almost fell shut again. Roxas sat next to her, and she hurriedly scrambled to climb onto her knees.

"What happened?" she asked weakly.

"You… Well, I think you fainted. You were, you know, lying on the floor and…"

"I don't…" She tried to think back to what had been happening. It was foggy, and she shook her head harshly, trying to shake her thoughts back into the right place. "Roxas?" She looked at him, her eyes running up and down as he smiled gently at her. "You were… what…?"

"Kairi!" His voice jolted her out of her daze, and she jumped in surprise. "We were walking, you didn't like it, I didn't like that, you were going to run, I stopped you." He paused for a moment to take a long and heavy breath. "You are sleepy." He said it as though he had only just then realised this himself. "You are always sleepy."

"I'm not sleepy!" Kairi said firmly. "This is the most awake I've been since I got here."

Roxas nodded, slowly, squinting at her.

"What?" Kairi hissed.

Roxas flinched a little in mock shock. An amused then smile slowly formed on his face. He shrugged, blinking.

Kairi scowled, clenching her fists tightly. "Where's Sora?" she asked, her voice clear.

Roxas frowned, reaching an arm up so his hand rested against his lips. "I'd say…" He waved a hand rather wildly in front of his face, then gestured to his left. "There-ish. Maybe. I'd need to check, but, eh. This place isn't that big, you'd reach him eventually. And Riku. And Naminé, too! Both of those are rather more unfortunate, though, I think. Personally. But I suppose I _am _Roxas here, for now at least. I feel pretty… close to him, right. And neither were especially kind to, well, _me_. I can can just see their glares at me for saying that, _burning me._ And, so, I can't really hate Sora, because we're too close, too. It's like we're twins. Identical twins, except… not very identical. If one of us got in an accident, say, and didn't look the same anymore. We'd still be twins, but-"

"You mean if I run long enough, I'll find Sora? And Riku?"

Roxas blinked. "That, Kairi, was rude. I_ really_ don't like being interrupted." He watched her for a few moments, staring directly into her eyes. Kairi uneasily turned her gaze to the ground. The floor swam beneath her feet, and she started to feel faintly dizzy again. Nervously, she looked back up at Roxas. He was smiling. He held a hand to his forehead as though despairing at what Kairi had said. "Kairi. You can't run. Haven't we already been through this? You try to, you so much as consider attempting it, I stop you. Straight away. You won't run. You can't. Besides, you won't. Have… Have I said this already? Urgh, I keep having to _repeat_ myself. Damn, just _do something different already_! This is a boring job, and I can't wait till you're done with. I thought this would be _so_ much more fun!" He paused, coughing lightly, as Kairi stood in surprised silence. "But yes, if you ran, walked, jogged, skipped, cart wheeled, whatever for long enough, chances are you'll stumble across them."

That made Kairi feel better, knowing at least that if she was able to run, she had someone she could reach. Sora, Riku… they'd be there if she could run for long enough.

"Unless they change things, obviously. I mean, it's hardly exciting I you're not in any danger, is it?"

"Huh?" Kairi said, her train of thought losing itself as she turned to him. "What does that-?"

"Other people in charge, I don't rule here, all that."

"Then who does?" Kairi asked.

"Uh, people? They don't really have a name, as such…" Roxas answered slowly.

"They're human, then?" Kairi said, frowning over at him, nearly joyful at him finally saying at least _something_.

"Well, they aren't really anything. They just are. Which, by the way, is _really_ boring." Roxas sighed heavily.

"So you… capture people for entertainment? I don't… why do you exist, then?"

Roxas shrugged. "I dunno. I guess someone was bored."

"But you've got to have a reason to-"

"I have plenty of reasons to live. This is usually wonderful, it's not my fault you're all terrible at it. Next time I'm asking for people who've never done anything. You know, people who've been so terribly sheltered there whole life that they've scarcely seen past their back yard" He giggled. "Now that would be fun. Confusion and all." He opened his eyes in apparent realisation. "_You've_," He pointed a finger at Kairi, "just seen too much. You just take everything in your stride."

"Why did you pick us then?" Kairi asked with irritation, not looking at him.

"_I didn't! _You'd know that if you just listened to me. It's supposed to be challenging, see? It's better that way. More satisfying." He did a little, shaky dance. Then he drooped, letting his arms fall to his sides. "Only I'm lazy, and want things done faster. Right?"

"Well then, I'm sorry that we aren't _fun_ enough for you," Kairi said viciously, glaring at him.

"That's okay," Roxas said gently, with an accompanying smile and light shrug. Kairi glared, and Roxas chuckled aloud. "It's just boring."

They sat, Roxas swaying lightly from side to side, keeping his faint smile.

"Hey, let's do something!" Roxas jumped up, quite suddenly, the crashing of his feet to the floor making it vibrate. Kairi took a sharp, surprised breath. He leant forward to beam into her face, and she jolted away.

"Do what?" she asked, her tone somewhere between annoyance and apprehension.

"Walking!" Roxas replied gleefully. He grabbed her wrist, and swung her violently to her feet, wrapping an arm around the front of her chest to prevent her toppling back to the ground. He frowned at her shoulder as she let out a high yelp. "Did that hurt?" He bit his lip when Kairi turned away from him without answering.

"We've already walked for hours. What are you trying to do?" she muttered, still not looking at him. A hand was clasped tightly at her shoulder.

"Sorry? What did you say?" Roxas asked.

Kairi turned to him, her eyes burning. "Go on then," she said flatly but clearly, her voice raised. "Do whatever it is you want to do. If it'll get me and my friends out of here, I'll do it."

Roxas's mouth twitched. "That's… um, good." He grinned properly, his teeth bared in pure excitement as his eyes glittered. "Now…" he pulled his arm over Kairi's eyes. She struggled, and tugged at his hand. Roxas giggled. "Thought you'd do what I wanted?" he said lightly. Kairi tensed. He continued laughing as he gently pulled his arm away.

"What was that-?" Kairi started in a hiss, but was cut off by the gasp that escaped her.

"This is better," Roxas said.

Her eyes burned at the sudden sprays of colour surrounded her. They adjusted, images crawling from the blurry mass of pinks and blues and greens and yellows. Objects that she couldn't identify jumped at her, something that resembled flowers or seashells or a million other beautiful things that gathered together to make something that horrified her. Her stomach twisted until it ached, the pain spreading up into her throat and head, and a moan fell from her mouth.

"Wha- Whad dih y-uh-" She coughed as she struggled to speak.

Roxas frowned at her, then turned back to- to _that_. "Well, I think it's rather pretty."

Kairi forced her eyes shut, finding it near impossible to look away. "What is it," she asked weakly.

"I dunno. Just something I thought might upset you," he said mildly. "Uh, not this much, actually. You're quite the emotional one, aren't you?" He squinted in the view's direction.

"It's… horrible." She fell down onto her knees.

Roxas coughed a suppressed laugh. "Wow," he said, and she could her him clapping joyfully. "Maybe this will be fun. I'm gonna get the others." She heard his footsteps drifting further and further away from her, but didn't dare to open her eyes.

.-***-.

Sora opened his eyes. Riku lied next to him, and his edges were blurry, like someone had started mixing them into the white. His friend slept. Sora tried to turn himself around to Naminé, who he guessed must be lying at his other side. But his body refused, his limbs horribly weak.

He shut his eyes. Footsteps clicked in the background.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Does... Is this anything to do with Kingdom Hearts anymore? I'm sorry.<p>

Also, sorry I took so long to update. I just...didn't write anything. I don't really have an excuse. This chapter was kind of short as well, so I guess I might as well apologise for that, too.

I'd love it if you could review, just because it's nice to know that someone's reading this. So, if you could, that would be absolutely lovely. Even if you can only think of bad things to say, it's still appreciated.

Thanks for reading!


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